


The Year from Hell

by PercyJacksonAus (UndercoverSmut)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: All Human!AU, Boarding School!AU, F/F, F/M, Greeks and Romans hate each other, M/M, lots of partying, lots of swearing, modern!AU, there are going to be so many more relationships than what I have listed, these are just the ones I'm pretty sure I'm not changing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-05-21 16:52:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6058831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndercoverSmut/pseuds/PercyJacksonAus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy Jackson and Jason Grace, golden boys of warring boarding schools Graecus High and Jupiter Academy, are forced to switch places as the ultimate punishment</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

            “This sucks balls.” Connor Stoll announced, tossing a Cheeto into his mouth. Everybody in the room nodded. There were ten of them lounging in different vaguely uncomfortable places of Percy’s room in the way only teenagers could. The letter had just come in the mail- following the latest, most explosive blow up of the rivalry between Graecus High School and Jupiter Academy, the deans of both schools, Dionysus and Lupa respectively, had decided to try a new form of punishment. Instead of the usual detention-suspension cycle, they had figured out that the way to really change things was to end the rivalry altogether. So, this upcoming school year, the main instigators of the conflict and class presidents of each school, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace, were to attend the opposite school. It was to teach tolerance, the letter read, and end the silly rivalry once and for all. Percy Jackson was less than pleased with their clever solution. He slipped his hand into that of his girlfriend Annabeth and squeezed. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make this work.

              Across town, there sat another group of equally unenthused teenagers. Reyna, Jason’s co-president and sort-of girlfriend, rubbed calming circles on his back while he fidgeted, flipping his lucky coin between his fingers. Octavian had just finished very smugly delivering the news and nobody was taking it well. Both Frank and Hazel had gone silent, lost in thought, and Jason thought Hazel might be tearing up a little. Dakota, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped talking yet, planning some harebrained scheme to rescue Jason from the clutches of the evil Graecus once they got their hands on him. Jason had tuned out once trampolines had become an established part of the plan. He leaned back into Reyna’s hand with a sigh. He wasn’t sure how he was going to make this work.


	2. Jason's First Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason tries to navigate his first Graecus party with limited success

“Heeyy, it’s the Jupiter kid!” Jason heard someone shout over the music and everyone turned and stared. The Back-To-School party was already in full swing, but he had only come up because he couldn’t sleep with all the noise. He had only been at the school for two days and already they were living up to their reputation as loud and careless.

              “Yo, Jason! Over here!” a familiar voice called out of the crowd. It was Leo, his roommate, waving him over to a group of people.

              “This is Thalia, Piper, Connor, Travis, Clarisse, and Grover. Everyone, this is Jason. He’s the Jupiter kid.” Leo introduced everyone so quickly that Jason knew he would never be able to remember them all. His head was starting to spin. There were too many people, the music was too loud, and everything reeked of booze. Parties at Jupiter were not like this at all.

              “Aren’t you afraid of getting caught, having a party like this?” he asked hopefully. Maybe there was a way for him to get out without looking like a prude or a wimp. But everyone just laughed.

              “See that blonde guy over there?” Leo gestured over his shoulder. The guy in question was doing tequila shots off of some girl’s stomach. “He’s our DA. We’re not getting in trouble for this.” He grinned and Jason sighed internally. Well, if he was going be here, he may as well get really drunk.

              “Where are the drinks?”

              “I’ll show you.” offered one of the girls. Piper, maybe? She was pretty, with braided brown hair and eyes of some undistinguishable color. She grabbed his hand and started dragging him through the crowd as the rest of the group shouted out drink orders behind them.

              When they got to the drinks, Jason found the girl staring at him strangely. And she didn’t even bother to conceal it. It felt like she was x-raying him and he fought a useless urge to cover himself.

              “Like what you see?” he asked with a fake swagger in his voice. She looked up like she had just been woken up.

              “Hmm? Oh. Well, you’re hot, but too perfect. Like a Ken doll.” She answered honestly before scooping up the last few beers they needed. “Okay, Ken, let’s go.”

              A few hours later, once they were all decently drunk, a game of Truth or Dare started up.

              “Dare!” declared the girl who was probably Piper confidently.

              “I dare you to… kiss Grover.” The blonde girl answered back. Probably Piper just laughed.

              “What is this, a middle school party? C’mon Annabeth, you’ve got to have something better than that.” Annabeth stuck out her tongue, then whispered to the girl in black next to her.

              “Okay then. I dare you to take off your bra and underwear and throw them onto the dance floor.” A chorus of Ooh’s came from the circle. Piper just shrugged, stood up, and pulled her underwear out from underneath her skirt. She dangled the black lacy thong over the group for a moment as if it was proof, then tossed it into the pulsating mass of dancers. Her bra quickly followed, then she sat back down with a grin.

              “Okay, Ken. You’re next. Truth or Dare?” the whole group turned to stare at Jason. He knew that this was the moment to prove himself to all the dumb Graecus kids. He couldn’t back down now.

              “Dare.” He knew from the gleam in Probably Piper’s eyes that he had made a mistake.

              “I dare you to go streaking. Around the Big House.” She challenged with a shark’s smile. Apparently he had made a really big mistake. But he played it off with a confident grin.

              “No problem. Anyone want to join me?” they all laughed again, but no one volunteered. Since it was Probably Piper’s dare, it was decided that she would go along as a witness. They set some parameters for exactly what “around the Big House” meant, then set out at once.

              The group hardly waited before the two were out the door to pull out their phones. It was Clarisse who got the call in first, warning the Big House about the streaker as an ‘anonymous tip’ and everyone laughed even louder. It was the perfect welcoming present for the Jupiter kid.

              Across campus, Probably Piper and Jason were just reaching their destination. The Big House was the hub of all administrative activity at Graecus and if anywhere was a bad place to go streaking, it was there. It was dark then, but usually the house was all lit up.

              “Come on, Ken, let’s get this peep show on the road.” She joked.

              “It’s Jason. And could you, ah, turn your back for a moment?” he asked. He knew that in a moment he was going to be running around stark naked, but the thought of her seeing him so close up somehow seemed worse. She complied and he stripped off his shoes, jeans, and t-shirt as fast as he could and handed them to her before announcing that he was ready. Probably Piper just laughed.

              “No, no, no, Ken. The dare was streaking, not running around in your underwear. Just hand them over and I’ll find a nice spot to watch.” Jason blushed at the thought of her staring at him and tried to ignore the fact that he was a little turned on. He pulled off his boxers and threw them at her, taking off hopefully before she could see much of anything.

              He hadn’t gotten more than halfway around before all of the floodlights suddenly came on, leaving him blinded and exposed. The security guard grabbed him and hustled him in. once inside, he was handed a towel to cover himself with and ushered into the dean’s office.

              “James? What do you think you are doing?” Dean Dionysus demanded.

              “Well, sir, I just-”Jason began before he was cut off.

              “And are you drunk too? Look, John, I know you don’t want to be here, but starting trouble like this will not get you out any faster. Streaking and drinking, before the first week is even over. A week’s detention for each. And step out of line again and your punishment will be far worse.” The dean paused in his speech to look me over. “Was this your idea?” he asked. If Jason sold them out then he would never be friends with any of them and he needed friends. But he didn’t want two weeks detention either.

              In the end, the choice wasn’t up to him. Jason realized that he had been calling her Probably Piper, as in it could be Piper or Betsy Sue. He couldn’t rat them out if he tried. So he just told the dean it was all his idea. He didn’t think he believed him.

              “Very well. As an additional punishment, you’ve got to walk back to your dorm in that towel. Although, for a streaker, I guess it doesn’t really make that much of a difference.” He made a face, then waved Jason out of his office.

              It was only when he got back to where he and Probably Piper agreed to meet and found it empty of people or clothes that he started to suspect sabotage. He should have seen it coming. No way were the Graecus kids just going to accept him like that. He was the enemy, head of Jupiter and the person who took away their precious Percy. He should have expected something like this and been on his guard. And he would bet money that Probably Piper was behind it.

              By the time Jason got back to dorm he was furious. The party was still going on the floor above his; he could hear the music thumping through the ceiling. But, no matter how loud it got, he swore he wasn’t going back up there. Somebody bumped into him in the hallway and he just about lost his towel.

              “Watch your fucking step.” He spat before looking up to see that it was, of course, Probably Piper. All his anger just swelled up and focused in on her.

              “You set me up, didn’t you? You knew I’d get caught. You did it on purpose ‘haha let’s play a joke on the Jupiter kid’ well it was pretty fucking funny! Haha nice one, guys! I’ve got two weeks detention, what a great punchline! Why don’t you just grow the fuck up and deal with this like adults instead of 12-year-olds!” he finished up, breathing hard. It was only then that he noticed he had her virtually pinned against the wall and his towel had been slipping as he gestured. Probably Piper noticed, too, her eyes darting down to the slowly appearing curve of his hips with a widening smirk. Something about that smirk made his mouth go dry and he forgot what he was going to say next. She looked up at him and patted the slipping knot on his towel, making it finally give way and fall to the floor. Jason couldn’t even think straight enough to pick it up, instead just swallowing audibly. Probably Piper chuckled at the look in his eyes.

              “Welcome to Graecus, Ken. Get used to it.” she told him over her shoulder as she continued on down the hallway, whistling as she went. Jason spent a long minute watching her walk away before remembering the towel on the ground and snatching it up, scuttling into his room before anything else could go wrong.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so people seem to actually be liking this so far. The first couple updates will probably come pretty quick because I already have them written, after that I'll try to keep up a weekly schedule, but no promises because i do have to handle my schoolwork on top of this. Thanks so much for reading though!


	3. Percy's First... Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy tries to find something interesting to do on his first night at Jupiter Academy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little bit short, there's not a lot of stuff that Percy wants to do at Jupiter right now

              “So…” Percy started, shoving his schoolbooks off his lap and rolling onto his side to face his roommate, Octavian. So far all Percy knew about the guy was that he had a terrifying but impressive collection of stuffed animals on his side of the room. Percy had always known that Jupiter kids were weird, but he didn’t expect weird to mean an army of Beanie Babies. Octavian barely glanced up from the book he had his head buried in. “Are there any good parties going on tonight to celebrate start of term or anything? I’m crazy bored.” Octavian heaved a mammoth sigh and sat up.

              “I’m sure Dakota has some kind of alcohol in his room, but you’d be best served by not fucking up on your very first night. I know that Graecus,” he sneered the word, as he had every time he was forced to say it before now, “Has the disciplinary system of your average understaffed kindergarten, but here at Jupiter we actually take things like law breaking very seriously. The only reason Dakota hasn’t been removed yet is because his dad is on the board. You do not have that same immunity.” And with that, Octavian ducked back into his book. It was clear to Percy that if he wanted to have any fun he would have to find this Dakota kid on his own. He wasn’t much in the mood for wandering the eerily quiet halls of the Jupiter dorms on his own, but Octavian was determined to be a buzzkill, so, with a sigh to rival Octavian’s own, he swung his legs off his bed and headed for the door.

              “Where do you think you’re going?” came Octavian’s voice sharply. Percy was quickly growing to hate the sound of that voice.

              “Dakota’s, like you said.” Percy answered over his shoulder as he left, refusing to be stopped by his buzzard of a roommate. He thought longingly of Grover, ignored the mutter from behind him that sounded a lot like “Damn Graecus”, and continued on his merry way to figure out who the fuck Dakota was.

              In the end, it took him upwards of 45 minutes of wandering and several very close calls to find Dakota’s room. Percy narrowly missed being nabbed by Reyna, the class president in Jason’s absence, and Terminus, the ever-present security guard that always seemed to be lurking around just the wrong corner. However, when he knocked on the door, he knew he had come to the right place.

              It opened slowly to reveal a slightly bedraggled, dark haired boy about Percy’s age with eyes so red he could’ve been soaking them in Kool-Aid. The unmistakable smells of booze and weed drifted lazily out into the corridor and Percy smiled for real for the first time since he got to this hell school. At least somebody here knew what was up. The dopey smile didn’t leave the boy’s face when he saw it was Percy, as everybody else’s had since he’d arrived.

              “Heyyyyy, aren’t you the Grae- Graecus kid?” Dakota slurred. Percy nodded. Dakota’s face split into an even bigger grin and he turned back into the room to shout to the other kids sitting in a smoky haze. “Guys, it’s Graecus!” Percy was greeted with a chorus of equally slurred ‘heeeyyyyy’s and ushered inside before all the smoke got out. He sat down in the circle between Dakota and a pretty girl with blonde hair who smiled happily at him and giggled when he winked. Her hair reminded him of Annabeth and he thought about calling her, but he shook his head. They had agreed that they wouldn’t break up, but that staying in too close contact would probably alienate him. Well, Percy liked to pretend it had been a ‘they’ thing. It was more like Percy wanted to see his gorgeous girlfriend all the time and she told him how bad of a plan that was. Of course, she was right. That didn’t make it any easier though.

              He then realized he had been staring at the blonde girl and she was staring just as intently back. He blinked and looked away, and the room exploded into cheers.

                             “Gwen’s the staring contest champ.” Dakota explained, while the boy on the other side of Gwen tried to hoist her into the air in celebration before collapsing into a heap with her on top of him. Everybody laughed raucously and somebody passed Percy a cup and the rest of the night passed in a smoke-filled haze.


	4. Jason's First Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason attends his first class at Graecus and tries to make some friends

After his first night at Graecus, Jason had no idea how classes were going to go. At Jupiter, everyone arrived on time with their uniforms in order and their textbooks pre-bought, ready to learn. Of course, that was painting with something of a wide brush- Dakota had never once been on time to the first day, or really any day after that, and Frank’s uniform was rarely unwrinkled from his latest trip down (or, more often, up) the stairs. But overall they were a put together school. Here, though, Jason half expected nobody to show up to class at all, not even the teacher. Or for them to show up in casual clothes, or, hell, even naked wouldn’t surprise him. He had had a very vivid nightmare of himself doing exactly that after the events of last night’s party. It wouldn’t help to dwell on that, though. He had to make a good impression.   
So Jason straightened his already straight tie and fixed his already perfect hair and gathered up the pre-stacked textbooks on the edge of his orderly desk before checking himself in the mirror one last time. He rubbed absently at the small scar on his lip that he never knew the origin of as he took in his new appearance. He was accustomed to blazers and crisply pressed khakis paired with the purple and gold argyle tie that made up the Jupiter uniform. He was unnerved by the simple button down and pants of Graecus, but what really bugged him was the tie. Mostly orange with thin black stripes, it looked like a Halloween leftover. He just couldn’t get accustomed to it. He wondered if Percy was standing in front of a mirror on the other side of town, fiddling with his own tie and feeling out of place. Then Jason chuckled. Percy had probably just rolled out of bed, hungover and disheveled, and was rushing to get ready. Which, of course, would go over very poorly with the teachers. As much as he hated this switch, it was always comforting to think about Percy getting eaten alive by Lupa. With a final hand through his hair, he strolled out of his room, leaving his sleeping roommate undisturbed.  
Unsurprisingly, Jason was the first one to the room. He picked a seat strategically, slightly farther forward than halfway up, just able to see the board but not close enough to garner unnecessary attention or accusations of being the teacher’s pet. The next person that stumbled in was someone he remembered vaguely from the party, though he looked different out of the hazy blinking party lights. Names floated through his mind, but none seemed to fit quite right. Luckily, he didn’t have to wonder for long because the kid waltzed right up and plopped down next to Jason.  
“Hey, Jupiter! Heard your dare went over well with Mr. D.” the kid laughed and Jason had to resist the urge to smack him. The anger from last night rose up, unbidden, and he tamped it down quickly. He did not need to compound his detentions right now.  
“It’s Jason, not Jupiter.” He muttered through his teeth. The kid threw up his hands.  
“Hey, okay, Jason it is. No harm intended. I’m Travis, in case you forgot,” as Travis introduced himself, an identical looking boy walked in with a beautiful girl and Travis’ attention was completely diverted.  
“And would you look at that, we’re the only ones- Oh.” The charming smile fell off the boy’s face and Travis’ as he remembered that Jason was sitting next to him. The other boy- Connor?- tried to keep up the act and lead the beautiful girl to a chair next to what could only be his twin, but it was clear that they were not anticipating that somebody else would arrive this early, half confirming Jason’s suspicions about Graecus attendance. Jason turned obligingly away from the trio and buried himself in one of his textbooks, trying to look busy, but couldn’t help overhearing what was going on next to him.  
“Ah shit, I forgot my textbook!” Connor exclaimed, dashingly suspiciously from the room. The longer he stuck around, the clearer it became to Jason that this had all been some elaborate plot to set Travis up with this girl.  
“You know, every time he walks me to class, he always forgets something.” The girl laughed and it was a sound so pure Jason felt like everything got a little more alive. He smiled down at an artist’s rendering of King Charles, then quickly corrected to the blank facial expression of somebody who is definitely not listening.   
“Well, that’s Connor for you. It’s always something. So, I didn’t even know we were going to be in the same history class this year, is this the fourth year in a row?” Travis asked, rubbing the back of his neck in a way that clearly indicated that he, too, was affected by the girl’s gorgeous laugh.  
“That it does, somehow. You know, I was actually in a different class until a couple days ago, when I was suddenly switched into this one with no explanation. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” she smirked at him and he flushed bright red.  
“Ah, c’mon, you know me, Katie. I prefer to sign my work.” He shot back, but there was just enough hesitation that Jason was quite sure that Travis was the driving force behind the switch. Katie just laughed again and Jason wondered what the nature of their relationship was, that he needed his brother to get them together but that she had no problem with being forcibly switched into his classes. He figured the poor guy probably had no idea she was just as head over heels for him as he was for her. Jason smiled again as another girl meandered into the classroom clutching an enormous mug of coffee, trumped only by her enormously unruly blonde hair. She flung herself down into a seat in front of Jason without sparing him a glance. Her name also drifted through the party haze, something with an A, he thought, but without confirmation he didn’t want to say anything. Anyway, he was a little intimidated by the bags under her eyes and the bag stuffed with textbooks slung over the back of her chair. He figured she didn’t really need to be bothered.  
After that, the floodgates broke. People wandered in in twos and threes, finding seats all over the classroom. Probably Piper smirked at him as she sauntered past to take a seat in the back with a dark haired girl that reminded Jason of someone and a red headed girl spattered in paint. Leo burst through the door moments before the first bell and slid into the still open seat on the other side of Jason, glancing at him gratefully and Jason felt a pang of guilt that he hadn’t thought to save him a seat. The teacher, a man in a wheelchair with a soft brown beard, Mr. Chiron Brunner, according to the schedule in his hand, shook his head disapprovingly at Leo, but smiled to show that he didn’t really mean it. Jason’s head was starting to spin with the mounting volume of chatter and for a moment he longed for the quiet murmur of a Jupiter classroom. He rubbed his scar again as the teacher started talking and tried to lose himself in the lesson.  
“Now, I know most of you have been in the same classes since grade school, but we have a new face with us this year, so we’re going to have to do introductions,” the whole class groaned collectively and somebody kicked the back of his chair. Jason whipped around to see a girl with short brown hair tied up in a bandana and small, mean eyes daring him to say something. Two week’s detention, he reminded himself, and turned slowly back around. The teacher’s eyes tracked his movements, but didn’t say anything either, instead setting about the task of fashioning the rows of desks into a big circle. Jason specifically positioned himself away from the mean-eyed girl and ends up between the blonde with the big coffee and beautiful Asian girl who smiled at him and batted her eyes. He swallowed audibly and tried to focus on the teacher.  
“Okay, we’re going to go around and do names, then split into groups of three for some more intense getting-to-know-you stuff. I’ll start. My name is Chiron Brunner, but you can just call me Chiron. Katie, you go next, and then we’ll just go around in a circle.” The beautiful girl from before class introduced herself and from there the entire class of twenty-something passed in a blur. Jason couldn’t help but think that he would have to get better at names if he ever wanted to survive this place. Then Chiron split them into groups and told them to discuss likes, dislikes, and what they did over the summer. Jason was paired with the girls on either side of him, both of whom scared him almost equally.   
“You look like you’re completely spaced, so I’ll reintroduce myself. I’m Annabeth.” The blonde girl told him, clearly more friendly now that she had drank almost half her enormous cup of coffee.   
“And I’m Drew.” The other girl announced, flipping her incredibly long hair over her shoulder and leaning in close to Jason. Out of the corner of his eye Jason could see Annabeth roll her eyes and he resisted the urge to join her. “So, newbie, what are you into?”   
He talked about student council and basketball and a local indie band he had recently gotten into, which Annabeth happened to be a longtime fan of, while wondering if Drew thought she could literally hypnotize him with her fluttering purplish eyelids. Annabeth talked mostly about architecture and the same band, though she briefly mentioned a boyfriend before quickly rerouting the conversation. Jason made a mental note to ask her about that someday when they were better friends. Drew talked about her summer, which seemed to consist almost exclusively of getting asked out by attractive boys in exotic locales and turning them down because she was waiting for the love of her life. Each story was punctuated by increased eyelash fluttering and what Jason assumed she thought was a winning smile. Annabeth made gagging gestures at him when she looked away and he had to hold in his laughter. The longer he spent with her, the more convinced he was that Annabeth would be a very good friend to have.   
Then he mentioned Jupiter. Annabeth all but flinched, looking away from him and suddenly clamming up. She pulled out her phone and started texting surreptitiously under her desk instead. Of course, that left him more or less alone with Drew, who had almost made her way into his desk by the time Chiron called the class back together. Thankfully, at that point, she sat back with a pout. Annabeth quickly tucked away her phone and looked studious. Jason was incredibly confused, but decided not to push it for the time being. Chiron had them go around the room introducing the other people in their groups, assigned a reading, and then the bell rang. His first class at Graecus had not been exactly what he expected, but he was certain that this would make for an interesting year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know it's been a really long time, but I'm going to try to get back into the swing of this because I finally have some spare time. Sorry for the wait!


	5. Percy's First Class

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy makes a friend and an enemy(?)

Percy couldn’t decide whether he’d rather give all the stuck up Jupiter fucks exactly what they expect and be late to class looking like a mess, or prove them wrong and show up fifteen minutes early looking like he just stepped out of a bandbox. He’d been awake since Octavian got up and turned on all the lights only to grab his clothes and toothbrush and disappear out the door at 6:30 in the fucking morning. He had tried going back to sleep (because class didn’t start for another hour and a half and no human being should be even close to awake, which just supported his developing theory that Octavian was some kind of vampire) but to no avail. So instead, Percy ended up sprawled across the bed, fiddling with his laptop and trying to ignore the staring eyes of all of Octavian’s stuffed animals. It wasn’t going well. There was a panda on his roommate’s desk that he was pretty sure was begging for help.   
Even worse than the fluffy menagerie on the other side of the room was the stupid blazer that was hanging on the desk chair. Percy had spent many good years mocking that blazer and everyone who wore it. Now, he had been firmly instructed by the headmistress (who scared the shit out of him, to be honest) that he had to wear it every day or start racking up demerits. The rest of the uniform he could handle, although he did miss the garishly orange tie that he had never quite figured out how to tie properly (Piper wouldn’t be here to laugh and fix it for him), but something about the stupid, stuffy blazer just rankled him. It was everything he hated about Jupiter. Nobody under the age of thirty should ever wear a blazer, much less be forced to wear one, but here they probably got extra credit for having a matching fucking pocket square. He bet Jason had a whole closet of fresh pressed pocket squares. He’d kill to see how well that would go over back home. He could imagine Clarisse pinning him down and stuffing the damn thing in his mouth before sending him like a trussed pig to the Big House. He had to make sure that nobody got the jump on him like that. So, with a dramatic sigh that nobody was around to hear, Percy heaved himself off the bed and got dressed for the day, stupid blazer included.

He got there ten minutes early and already the class was almost full. Percy went to sit in his customary seat in the second-to-back row, left corner, when he heard Annabeth’s voice in his head.   
“Please behave. Maybe they’ll let you back early if you do!” he could picture her eyes as she said it, pleading and hopeful and desperate. God, he missed her. And he would do anything to get back to Graecus. So he slid into a seat almost in the front row, one of the last ones left. At least he was right near the door, so he could bolt if necessary. The girl next to him smiled as he sat down, her golden eyes glittering pleasantly.  
“You must be Percy Jackson, right? The guy from Graecus?” she asked, extending a teak-colored hand. Percy nodded and took it, realizing that this girl was the first sober person to actually be friendly to him. When she opened her mouth again, he braced himself for the punchline, but all she said was “My name’s Hazel. But I thought you were a junior? What are you doing in this class?”  
“I…Isn’t this a marine biology course for all grades?” Percy asked, suddenly nervous that he had walked into the wrong class and would end up running into class late and out of breath despite his best efforts. Hazel tipped back her head and laughed.   
“Nobody ever signs up for that class. There’s not even a teacher anymore. They must’ve dumped you in here instead!” it suddenly struck Percy how small all of his classmates seemed. And when Annabeth had leafed through his textbook for this class she had said something about it having a surprisingly wide focus. This could only mean one thing.  
“Is this a freshman biology class?” Hazel nodded, her eyes still dancing as she held up a binder labeled in swooping handwriting: BIO 101. Leave it to Jupiter to royally dick him over on day one. He groaned and slid down in his chair, drawing the eyes of a few people in the room. He resisted the urge to flip them off as the teacher walked into the room and the whole classroom fell silent instantaneously. It felt oppressive, leaving Percy longing for the comfortable chatter of a Graecus classroom. Leo would be bantering with the teacher about homework he conveniently forgot to do and trying to bribe them with his latest weird contraption, Grover would be flicking perfectly crafted paper footballs at him, and there would be a burst of laughter from Clarisse’s side of the room followed by a few pointed looks. Man, it had to be bad if he was missing Clarisse.  
He was so busy picturing what all of his friends would be doing right then on the other side of town that he completely missed the first half of the teacher’s speech. He only looked up when he heard the nasally voice say his name. The entire classroom was staring at him expectantly, making him feel like a zoo exhibit.   
“In my day, students stood when teachers asked them to.” the teacher announced, arching an eyebrow. Percy cleared his throat and stood up quickly. Of course, he accidentally knocked his chair into the desk behind him, earning himself a glare from a kid with a military-grade buzz cut. When he turned back to the teacher, he finally took in the balding, almost pot-bellied man standing in front of him expectantly with his zipper undone and his jacket about two sizes too big. He appeared to be an absentminded professor type, but minus most of the brains that usually come with that. Percy stood silently and awkwardly, the whole class still staring at him.  
“Introduce yourself!” Hazel hissed out the side of her mouth. He smiled at her gratefully and cleared his throat.  
“Hello, my name is Percy Jackson, and I’m here through a series of bad choices and scheduling errors.” he gave them what Annabeth called his please-give-me-a-detention smirk and waited for the laughter. None came. Hell, he thought he even heard some crickets. He really didn’t understand this place.  
“You can add that introduction to your list of bad choices, Mr. Jackson. Please proceed to Headmistress Lupa’s office immediately.” Usually the smirk didn’t work quite so literally, Percy thought to himself as he gathered up his things and slouched out of the classroom to a chorus of snickers and an encouraging smile from Hazel.  
He remembered the way to the headmistress’ office from his entry meeting with her, but it was only Annabeth’s voice in his head that made him go there instead of goofing around until his next class. That, and the distinct lack of anyone interesting to goof around with. So, far too soon, he found himself facing down her impressive (oppressive?) mahogany door and knocking on it far more tentatively than he would have preferred.  
“Come in.” She commanded, the door swinging open of its own accord. Percy sauntered inside, taking note of the small remote labeled door that she tucked into a desk drawer as he did so. He tossed his schoolbag on the ground, then quickly corrected himself and sat bolt upright in the uncomfortable chair across from Lupa’s high backed throne. Her eyes glinted as she took him in, the small curl of her lip giving her a wolfish look, like she was waiting for just the right moment to devour him. He told himself she didn’t scare him. (He was lying).  
“Well, Mr. Jackson, not even an hour into the first day of classes and you are already causing trouble. I told Mr. Dionysus that this experiment could only go poorly. I’d like to thank you for proving me right.” The wolfish smirk transformed into what could only be described as a triumphant grin and Percy felt his blood start to boil. He could handle a lot, but being counted out before he even knew he was competing was not on the list. Who was this lady to just decide that because he was Graecus scum there was no way he could hack it at her precious academy? He had only made one joke before a death sentence was leveled against him. Percy had always known that they did things differently at Jupiter, that they were stricter and more serious (and richer, a bit of him chimed), but he hadn’t expected them to not even give him half a chance. His hands curled into fists at his sides and he took a deep breath to steady himself before speaking.  
“With all due respect, Headmistress, I meant no harm by my comment and I don’t think it’s quite fair for you to discount Mr. D- uh, Mr. Dionysus’s clever idea so quickly. If you would allow me to return to class, you would find that things would proceed quite smoothly.” he could feel his fingernails carving half-moons into his palms, but he hadn’t insulted her and that meant he had succeeded. She smiled even wider, exposing more teeth than Percy had thought a person could have. He tried not to swallow visibly.  
“Much better. If the rest of the day passes without incident, I will allow you to escape without punishment. One more misdemeanor and your visiting rights are revoked for the weekend.”  
“But-” Percy started before he caught himself. It wasn’t smart to argue with her, he knew that, but it still seemed unfair. She nodded like she could read his thoughts.  
“We do not appreciate insubordination here at Jupiter Academy. If you follow the rules, you will have no trouble.” Her hand darted into the same desk drawer and the door swung open again. He was being dismissed. He gathered his things with as much dignity as he could muster and tried not to storm out of the room. He did kick the wall as soon as he turned the corner, though, and only ended up with a stubbed toe for his efforts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Percy's chapters have been shorter, there just aren't that many Jupiter kids and that makes everything just a little bit trickier.
> 
> Also I'm thinking I'm gonna keep it to just Percy and Jason through their first day and then maybe spread out the POVs after that because there are a lot of things going on that the boys don't necessarily know about but I do want to address. What do you guys think?


End file.
